Stories Of The Bible
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The Father Of Many Nations
I. Genesis 17
1 ¶ And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the LORD appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect.
2 And I will make my covenant between me and thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly.
3 And Abram fell on his face: and God talked with him, saying,
4 ¶ As for me, behold, my covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be a father of many nations.
5 Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made thee.
6 And I will make thee exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee.
A. God Is A Covenant God
1. Contract: My good at your expense.
2. Covenant: Your good at my expense.
* 1 Samuel 18:3 Then Jonathan and David made a covenant, because he loved him as his own soul.
* Psalms 89:34 My covenant will I not break
* Deuteronomy 7:9 Know therefore that the LORD thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations;
* the ark of the covenant of God
* Hebrews 10:16 this is the covenant that I will make with them in those days -- We become the ark of the covenant of God
B. Abram Respected God
C. The Unilateral Covenant of God
1. Bi-lateral Covenant -- I will if you will -- We will
2. Unilateral Covenant -- As For Me …
* Hebrews 6:13 For when God made promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he sware by himself,
F. God promised to make Abram the father of many nations
II. Abraham - A Father Of Many Nations
A. Have I Made Thee!
1. Already -- Past Tense
2. Hebrews 4
17 ¶ (As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,) before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were.
18 Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations, according to that which was spoken, So shall thy seed be.
B. Nations and Kings shall come from thee
III. The Sons of Abraham (How Abraham Became The Father of Many Nations)
A. The Story of Ishmael
Genesis 16:15 Hagar bears Ishmael to Abram
Abram is 86 years old
Ishmael becomes the father of
Circumcised at age 13 with Abram who was 99
Sent away with his mother to the desert of Paran
Became an archer and desert chief
Ishmael married an Egyptian woman
12 Princes were his sons
Founders of many Arab tribes
Inhabited desert places of Northern Arabia
Gen 16:12 a wild man whose hand is against every man …
Ishmael was about 90 when Abraham died
Ishmael and Isaac buried Abraham in Hebron
Ishmael died at 137 years old
B. The Story of Isaac
Genesis 17
15 ¶ And God said unto Abraham, As for Sarai thy wife, thou shalt not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall her name be.
16 And I will bless her, and give thee a son also of her: yea, I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of people shall be of her.
17 Then Abraham fell upon his face, and laughed, and said in his heart, Shall a child be born unto him that is an hundred years old? and shall Sarah, that is ninety years old, bear?
18 And Abraham said unto God, O that Ishmael might live before thee!
19 And God said, Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed; and thou shalt call his name Isaac: and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him.
20 And as for Ishmael, I have heard thee: Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly; twelve princes shall he beget, and I will make him a great nation.
21 But my covenant will I establish with Isaac, which Sarah shall bear unto thee at this set time in the next year.
C. The Other Sons of Abraham
Ishmael - God will hear - Hagar - Flight
Isaac - he laughs - Sarai (Sarah) - Princess (noble woman)
(Genesis 25)
Zimran - musician - Keturah - incense
Jokshan - snarer - Keturah
Medan - contention - Keturah
Midian - strife - Keturah
Ishbak - he releases - Keturah
Shuah - wealth - Keturah
D. God made Abraham the father of many nations, kings and princes came from him, but all that Abraham had and the covenant of God passed to his son Isaac, the son of his promise.
IV. Lessons From The Bible
* Covenant can procure what contract cannot secure.
* Do not let impatience become your God.
* It’s not who gets there first that counts.
* What you do while you are waiting on God can determine how long you wait.
